Hobhouse's political career in Rochdale was defined by the Spodden Valley asbestos controversy; this was the proposed development of 650 homes on an asbestos-contaminated site.[11] Hobhouse and her husband opposed the proposals, leading them to switch to the Liberal Democrats in 2005. They were criticised at the time for not triggering by-elections to seek fresh mandates as Liberal Democrat councillors.[12][13] The development was finally blocked seven years later in 2011.[14]

Hobhouse was reelected in 2006 and 2010 for the Liberal Democrats in Norden.[15][16] The Liberal Democrats assumed majority control of Rochdale Council in 2007; Hobhouse served as the Cabinet Member for the Environment between 2006 and 2009 and chaired the Health Scrutiny committee from 2009 to 2010.

After the Liberal Democrats lost majority control of the council in 2010, and following disastrous local election results, Hobhouse was elected as the leader of the much-reduced Liberal Democrat group on Rochdale Council in May 2011.[17] In July 2011, Hobhouse was involved in a heated exchange at a full council meeting concerning arts funding, for which she later apologised.[18]

Shortly before the 2017 general election, Hobhouse was selected to stand for parliament in the former Liberal Democrat seat of Bath when the prospective candidate stood down. She was one of 184 women candidates put forward by the Liberal Democrats.[22] Hobhouse, who supported Remain and had previously co-founded Bath for Europe,[6] stood on a pro-European platform which also emphasised housing, education, congestion and pollution concerns, as well as opposition to the incumbent Conservative MP Ben Howlett's plans to link the A46 and A36 roads together. Her party emphasised the need for Labour supporters to vote tactically for Hobhouse to defeat the Conservatives.[8][23] Hobhouse gained the seat with a majority of 5,694 votes and a 17.6% increase in the Liberal Democrat vote share – the second-highest vote share increase for the party nationally – helped by a 9.7% fall in the Green Party vote.[24][25]

On 6 March 2018, Hobhouse presented a Private Members' Bill to amend the Sexual Offences Act 2003; her bill would outlaw acts of voyeurism, especially upskirting, which are not currently explicitly covered by UK law.[29][30]Justice SecretaryDavid Gauke signalled that the government would support Hobhouse's bill,[31] which was later supported by the Prime Minister, Theresa May.[32] Hobhouse's bill was not debated at its presentation in the House of Commons.[33] At its second reading in the Commons on 15 June 2018, Conservative MP Christopher Chope objected to Hobhouse's bill, preventing its passage through the Commons.[34] Chope's actions drew immediate criticism from fellow MPs.[35][36] May also expressed her disappointment at the objection.[35] Chope said that his reason for blocking the bill's passage was in objection to parliamentary procedure rather than to the bill itself: he stated that he would "wholeheartedly" support a government bill that outlawed upskirting.[37] Following his objection, the government reaffirmed its commitment to introduce legislation to outlaw upskirting.[38] A government bill to outlaw upskirting was introduced to the House of Commons on 21 June 2018;[39][40] and passed its second reading on 3 July 2018 to become the Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019.[40]

In an interview with HuffPost UK published in May 2018, Hobhouse warned against the "toxic" immigration debate in the UK. She acknowledged her party's limited resources following its electoral collapse at the 2015 general election, and affirmed that she was happy with Vince Cable as the party's leader. She urged the party to do more to increase its diversity.[26][41]

In July 2018, Hobhouse was criticised for claiming £4,800 in parliamentary expenses for a heavy duty colour printer. Defending her actions, Hobhouse said that she had saved the taxpayer £40,000 by taking over the lease from Bath's previous MP and that she required the printer for her constituency letters.[42][43] In October 2018, Hobhouse's constituency office announced that it had completed 6,000 pieces of casework.[44]

Hobhouse supports drug testing at festivals,[46] rehabilitation-orientated prison reforms,[47] a final vote on the Brexit deal,[48][49][50]abortion reform in Northern Ireland,[51] legalising cannabis,[52] increasing the number of refugees welcomed into the UK,[53] a ban on letting fees[54] and reducing the number of short prison sentences to ease prison overcrowding.[55] She opposes fracking.[56] Hobhouse supported a campaign to improve the treatment of eating disorders[57][58] and led a parliamentary debate on destigmatising them.[59] In local politics, she objected to plans to build a new hotel in Bath, stating that the city's tourism is turning it into "Disneyland on Avon",[60] and launched a petition to fund a large police station for the city.[61]

Wera Hobhouse has been married to William Hobhouse since 1989.[6] They both cite the fall of the Berlin Wall as a pivotal moment in their lives, which they witnessed when they lived in Germany.[10][62] They have four grown-up children, two sons and two daughters.[3][8] She naturalised as a British citizen in 2007.[26][63] William and Wera Hobhouse own a Rochdale and Germany based company, Compotex, that provides bonding, priming and adhesion solutions to the textile and rubber industries.[64][65]